It is well known to pack products, by way of example tablets, capsules, chewing gums, medical devices, spare parts etc in blister packs. The blister pack can in each blister contain one single product as well as a number of products.
A typical blister pack comprises one single or an array of cavities covered by a film to form blisters. The pack is opened by pressing the blister, whereby the film breaks and exposes the product contained therein, or by peeling off the film. For pharmaceutical preparations, the customer is normally provided with a packet comprising a number of blister packs, each containing a number of tablets/capsules in individual blisters.
The products to be packed are normally provided loose in large batches in the form of bags or boxes. This type of bulk storage is however less favourable in the case of products which are pressure sensitive or which have a low abrasion resistance, since the products will press and rub against each other during handling. This often results in a need of quality control before packaging and also large cassations. Further, bulk storage is also less favourable in view of shelf life since it is hard to control the environmental conditions. Accordingly, it is favourable to minimize the handling in bulk and also minimize the time from production of the products to packaging. Thus, sensitive products should preferably be packed in blister packs as soon as possible after production.
Blister packs and blister packages containing blister packs are generally formed in continuous lines, wherein a continuous web of a carrier material is fed, and during which feeding a number of cavities are formed by way of example pressing, vacuum forming or film blowing. The cavities are filled with a desired amount of products from a batch, where after the cavities are covered by a continuous film, which is pressed and fixed to the carrier material, to form a continuous blister web. The continuous film is normally fixed to the carrier material by adhesive bonding or heat sealing. The film or the carrier material can be pre-printed with desired information or the film or carrier material can be provided with a print after forming said continuous blister web. Finally, the continuous blister web is cut to form individual blister packs with arrays of a desired amount of blisters. The resulting skeleton of waste material is coiled for further destruction or recycling.
For some applications, by way of example for pharmaceutical preparations, the above described continuous line is further provided with the additional step of providing the desired numbers of blister packs into a packet together with a packaging slip such as an insert in the form of a leaflet or booklet, a coupon or other types of information or marketing material, before palletizing the packets. Due to rigorous requirements in the pharmaceutical industry, this step is integrated in the above disclosed continuous line.
This type of continuous lines have a drawback of low efficiency if the packets are produced for different clients or are to be used in different countries, since each client or country normally requires its own specific print, number of blister packs per packet, type of pack or packet, pack or packet design and packaging slip. Accordingly, the downtime for change of settings and materials is high, which in the end affects the total cost. Also, continuous lines are sensitive for frequent starts and stops. Further, each continuous line is normally used for one type of product, whereby a production facility producing a number of different products normally requires a corresponding number of different lines running in parallel.
From SE 512 896 a method and system for packaging pharmaceutical preparations is known. It discloses a method and system in which blister packs are formed and stored in intermediate storing containers. The intermediate storing containers can be transported to a final packaging facility, which facility can be on another site, where the blister packs are marked and put in packets in accordance with the specific requirements of a client. The intermediate storing containers are in the form of tubes or similar, containing stacked blister packs. This method and system does however involve a problem in that the continuous lines producing the individual blister packs still must be adapted to or be set to produce blister packs having a specific size and a specific array of blisters. The versatility of the continuous line is thus still restricted.
Also, in order to meet a short delivery time the producer must keep storage in the form of intermediate storing containers which are specific for one design of a blister pack, such as a square blister pack having an array of ten blisters and a specific print. The latter is normally necessary since printing on individual packs requires a very high production speed and thereby a more complicated machinery.
Thus, there is a need for a method with improved versatility of producing blister packs and packets, and which method allows for short delivery time but still allows for a customer specific design of the blister packs and packets.